Perfection
by Claire-ful
Summary: Everything he's ever dreamed of has happened. He's finally secured himself a date with Yumi, and he might even have solid evidence of her true feelings for him. He's always been told perfection doesn't exist. But does it really? One shot, UxY. Or is it?


Perfection

A/N: Hello! So this my first ever uploaded fanfiction! Please excuse me if I make any spelling and/or grammar errors, but feel free to point them out! Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. Well enough of this, on to the story!

* * *

"Hey," a voice announced its presence from behind.

Ulrich jumped, not having expected to hear the voice. As a result his books lay scattered on the floor.

"Oh, um, hey Yumi," he could feel the heat rising in his cheeks. He didn't need a mirror to tell him that his cheeks were now a flaming red.

She let out a melodious little laugh and a small smile graced her face. "Someone wasn't focusing, wasn't he?"

She kneeled down and helped him gather his belongings. He quickly jumped up after regaining possession of his items.

"So, erm, why'd you call me? I mean, it's not like I don't want to talk to you or anything but..." He quickly trailed off when he realised he was starting to ramble. "That's because I'm free after school today. Want to go get some ice cream?"

His jaw nearly unhinged itself in shock. "To-together? You mean, you and I? Just us?"

"Yes, silly," she let out another small laugh, her eyes creasing in laughter. She seemed to take joy from watching the flustered boy turn a few shades darker.

"Um, sure! Should I pick you up at 3?" He managed to finally get his brain to form a coherent thought.

Was this just two friends hanging out together? Or was it something more? Ulrich hoped that it was the latter. But it wasn't possible, after that talk a few months ago... But it couldn't hurt to dream, right?

"See you later then," she gave him a little wink that left him stuttering, incapable of normal speech.

He stood there, mouth wide open. Moving robotically he pinched himself. "Ouch!" He recoiled instantly, feeling intense pain spring out of his arm. He rubbed the sore spot loosely. This was definitely not a dream.

This was perfection. He didn't care what anyone told him, perfection actually did exist.

* * *

"Odd! Would you quit saying that?"

"Ulrich's going on a date with Yumi, he's finally going on a date with Yumi!" It was as if Odd had become a broken CD player. For the past five minutes he had said nothing except that phrase and variants of it.

"I don't even know if it's even one!" He protested, to no avail.

"They're going- wait, what did you just say?" Odd finally stopped prancing around the room. His face wore an expression of shock. "Ulrich, this is definitely a date! If it weren't she would've definitely invited the rest of us! Take it from the guy who knows," he smirked at the end.

Ulrich sighed, but inwardly he was relieved. All he needed was a bit of confirmation.

"Ok, fine, mister-know-it-all, what should I wear then?" He rolled his eyes when Odd started to scrutinise him.

"Just wear your usual clothes, you are just going to the ice cream place," Odd finally said after a moment of silence.

"You sure?"

"Well, it can't all be perfect."

"I beg to differ," Odd's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "This is perfection."

Silence. Then Odd was suddenly clutching his stomach in laughter. "I'm sorry, good buddy, but that, it sounds like something a girl would say." He let out another peal of laughter, punctuating his sentence.

For the second time that moment, he rolled his eyes.

A sound caught his ears. "Hey Odd, is that your gameboy?"

A confused look crossed his face. "You're joking, buddy, I don't hear anything."

"I must be hearing things..." He wasn't so sure though. He could hear the steady beeping of something quite clearly, filling his ears. But if Odd couldn't hear it, then it might have just been the stress.

It would have to wait. He had more pressing matters to deal with.

* * *

"I'm glad you came," Yumi said simply. "I'll be honest, I thought they you weren't going to."

Ulrich nearly laughed out loud. "I wouldn't miss this for the world! And besides, how can you have too much ice cream?"

"Probably a diabetic person," she cracked a small smile, which quickly morphed into a fully-formed grin.

Her smile was infectious. Soon, they both were shaking with laughter. Frankly, he thought that his joke was the lamest one in the world. But it was like the good old days, just him and Yumi laughing together at stupid things, when XANA had given them a month or two between his attacks. Sometimes they were able to pretend it didn't exist during those periods, and they were able to hang out like normal school kids.

"So how's school?" Yumi inquired. Ulrich cocked an eyebrow. She's never asked him that before.

"It's ok I guess... That is, if you can count getting mostly B's acceptable," he furrowed his eyebrows. "My father definitely doesn't."

They sat in silence after that. One was contemplating their thoughts. Both were digging into their ice creams. Ulrich personally didn't mind the silence. It was the comfortable kind of silence, where you don't feel any obligations to entertain the other yet are able to share their company.

Yumi finally spoke up; a gleam in her eyes. "I could help you if you want. Maybe every Friday after our sparring sessions."

He didn't know what to make out of this situation. Was it just two friends helping each other out? Or was it more?

The apprehension was killing him. She had unknowingly given him an opening to open the question, all that was left was for him to take it. His mind was battling for dominance with his heart. One part of him shrieked at him to take the opportunity, the other cautioned him to err on the side of caution.

He pushed the latter away, using Odd's words as motivation. "Erm, Yumi... Why exactly are we hanging out right now?" He took a gulp and dived right in. "I mean, what special occasion is this? Us? I mean I just want to-"

Yumi's expression was a cross between bemused and amused. "It's just us two Ulrich, I think that's enough of an answer for you."

Ulrich's mind drew a total blank. Her words processed in slowly. He sat in shock, what was left of his ice cream completely forgotten.

"Hey, I'll finish that for you if you don't want it anymore," her tone was serious, but Ulrich knew her better.

"Oh erm, sorry," his face grew sheepish while he mentally slapped himself. Why was it that this girl was able to render him useless, unable to say a single sentence without stuttering?

"So is that a yes?"

"Definitely!"

* * *

It was now Friday. His alarm clocked beeped relentlessly, causing him to startle awake when he accidentally fell asleep.

"Shoot, I almost over slept!" He grabbed his books and raced out of his room, the beeping of his alarm still echoing in his ears, growing steadily faster. Or was it just his imagination?

His footsteps fell quickly, almost leading him into a wall. He ran down the stairs and sprinted for the park, where he hoped Yumi would be waiting for him.

"Looks like someone wasn't paying attention again," she chuckled.

Yet again, his cheeks filled with an undeniable warmth. But he was finally able to find his tongue. "And who was the one who almost dropped their ice cream while walking?"

"You'll pay for that Stern," she smirked at him, before lunging at him. He instinctively blocked her attack, grabbing her by the wrist.

The next few minutes passed by in an absolute blur. Ulrich would be on offensive, and the next moment he would be defending himself from an uppercut. This repeated until he found himself, back to the ground, staring up into her onyx eyes.

"Looks like I won," she panted.

Her hair was messed up, tousled by the wind, and her face was adorably flushed. She was covered by a glimmer of sweat, but in Ulrich's opinion, she had never looked more beautiful.

"Yumi, I..."

"Shh," Ulrich gulped nervously. She was definitely getting closer to him.

She was barely a centimetre away. And the world exploded in sparks of a feeling Ulrich had never felt in such intensity.

* * *

Sparks. Sparks. Sparks. Sparks.

That was the only thought that he was able to comprehend.

The world was black. Or was it white? He couldn't tell the difference anymore. Was he up? Was he down?

He remembered his name. Ulrich Stern lazily floated around the back of his head. He was fourteen. He liked football and Pencak Silat. He fought against a virus named XANA. He had been about to kiss the love of his life for the first time.

What was he doing here? This certainly wasn't the park. Where was he anyways? Did he black out? He cringed inwardly at the thought. Heaven forbid he did, he would never live it down.

He could feel a presence near him. But what help was that when all he could see was an endless stretch of an unidentifiable colour? He was floating in a void, the only being for as far as he could see.

As if he were being lifted gently out of water, his ears switched on. He strained them as far as he could, to only be able to pick out the same beeping he had heard relentlessly. He could also hear some shuffling around, the shuffles rapid and lithe.

Open your eyes. The command inexplicably floated in his mind. How do I do that? He felt like he was still learning how to exist. Concentrate.

He opened them a crack. Immediately he was greeted by a mop of black hair right in his face. The being had a perplexed look on its face, before comprehension dawned on it.

"So you're finally awake," the being spoke. "How do you feel?"

It took him a few seconds to find his voice. "Horrible," he croaked, his voice dry from disuse. But that's odd, he thought. I was speaking fine until now.

"Of course, of course," Ulrich finally made the connection that the being had been a doctor. "You had been-"

"What am I doing here anyways?" He cut him off. He would rather know why he was here, in what he deduced to be a hospital. "And where's Yumi?"

The doctor's face paled considerably. "You mean you don't remember?"

"I know who I am. But what I don't get is why I got here from the park." He was starting to get frustrated. The doctor was supposed to be the smart one.

"It's not my place to tell you," he said monotony, in a transparent attempt to rid him of any emotion. "Please excuse me as I go get your friends," with that he turned heel and walked out of the door, strides long and fast.

Now Ulrich was alone. Again. The first person who seemed to have any sort of information had deserted him. That left him time to think. XANA hadn't attacked earlier, except for the failed attempt slightly over a week ago. They had been saved à la Jeremie's favourite way, just in time.

Well that was as far as he knew. He blacked out before the return, but he knew that it had been successful as he had found himself standing on his own two feet. Yumi also seemed fine, rid of her wounds when he met up with her.

He knew that there was a bigger picture. But to him, everything wrapped up perfectly, that is until this current point. For all he knew the fact that he was here could be a XANA attack.

The door creaked open, startling him half to death. He was relieved to find out that the faces that poured in were familiar. Odd, Jérémié and Aelita. He was able to match the names easily to each of their faces.

"So," Aelita piped up softly, breaking the silence of the room. "How are you feeling?"

"Better than when I first woke up, that's for sure," he paused for a minute, before pressing on. "What the hell am I doing here? And where is Yumi? Shouldn't she be here? Especially after our dates..." He trailed off after he saw the horrified expressions form on their faces.

"Do you-do you mean you don't remember the XANA attack?" Jérémié asked slowly, as if he were calculating his words carefully.

"Well of course I haven't!" Ulrich protested indignantly. "Kinda hard to forget a whole army of Krabes. But you returned, right? I mean, we were back to our classes after that..."

"Ulrich," Aelita spoke softly. "We were too late." Wait, what?

"That's impossible! I met up with-"

"Please, let her finish," Odd pleaded. Something in his tone made Ulrich stop in his tracks. He sounded... Desperate. Broken.

"Ulrich, you-you were lucky, the worst injury you had was the concussion that caused your coma," Coma? Concussion? This shouldn't be happening. He had just been sparring with Yumi, not lying comatose in a hospital bed.

"We tried Ulrich!" Her voice rose to a sheer wail, before her voice just gave way and started cracking. "But XANA, he played his cards right, he impersonated Yumi and pretended all was well, that was why we didn't know!"

She collapsed into a heap on the floor, her knees giving way as her shoulders heaved. It practically tore Ulrich's heart out to see Aelita like this, the little bundle of joy reduced to a sobbing pile. Jérémié knelt down and hugged her tight, giving her what little comfort he could give.

Ulrich was starting to have second thoughts on wanting to know.

Odd spoke up, his voice the softest he'd ever heard. "We found you by chance Ulrich, we had decided to go another way to survey the damage. You were unconscious, both of you..." He trailed off, as if he were at a loss on what to say.

Silence returned to the room, punctuated by the beeping of the heart monitor he was hooked up to, alongside Aelita's quiet sobs and Jérémié soft hushing.

"Go on then," he gritted his teeth. This would prove that this was a nightmare, the blaring of his alarm clock would wake him up and he would sit up panting, frightened but relieved. It was a nightmare. It had to be a nightmare.

He had dreamt up this whole situation. He would give up kissing Yumi for this to be a nightmare. He would give up the ice-cream date, his relationship, and start all over from square one. Anything. Anything at all.

"Aelita, she-she passed out. There was so-so much blood," it was now obvious that it took Odd a massive amount of control to suppress his own emotions. "We-we found you near-near a tree, a dead end-d," he gulped, seemingly bracing himself for something. "And Yumi..."

Ulrich could feel his heart in his mouth. His stomach dropped down to his feet and churned. A sixth sense told him he should be extremely wary. He didn't utter a word; something was holding him back.

Aelita whimpered. Odd shot her an apologetic look, one filled to the rim with regret. "We-we couldn't even recognise her at first. She was huddled over you-ou, and covered in..." Odd couldn't bring himself to say it.

Ulrich's brain had shut down. He was staring blankly into space. Nothing made sense. It was utterly impossible. She was well. He had even went on two dates with her. Odd himself even helped him with his clothes.

Ulrich let out a dry laugh. "Very funny guys, I don't even know how you did this," he looked around desperately. Odd's face was blank. Aelita was looking up at him with big doe eyes while Jérémié looked crestfallen.

"No, seriously, you got me this time," his smile didn't quite reach his eyes, which were dancing around in a chaotic way.

Still more silence.

"Ulrich..." Jérémié started.

"You can come in now Yumi," he called out towards the direction of the open door.

He waited, well aware of the anxious looks he was getting.

One.

Two.

Any moment now...

Three.

Four.

"You're-you're not joking?" He asked in a quiet voice.

"We tried Ulrich, we really did," Odd pleaded, his tears threatening to escape the confines of his eyes.

Tiny bits of information were finally processing in his brain. Aelita had passed out upon finding them. He had been unconscious for a few days now. Yumi was nowhere to be seen. Yumi had been unrecognisable. They were found together, her on top of him.

"Where is she? Which room is she in?" He demanded, his voice echoing off the walls.

"Ulrich..."

"Tell me!"

"She was gone by the time we came."

Everything halted. Time, movement, the turning of the world. It had to be. How is it possible that the rest of the world could still be going their merry way? Why hadn't everything had just stopped short?

"You're lying, you're lying, you're lying, you're _lying_!" He shrieked hysterically, the words mushing into one. It's a wonder how no doctors had rushed into his room yet, with the racket they were making.

"I just went on a date with her! She can't be dead right?" He wouldn't be surprised if he were carted off to the mental hospital that very moment. "You've all hit your head!" He had a psychotic smile stretched on his face, giving him a strained look. He raised a shaking finger towards Odd, which made the latter flinch. "You even told me to wear my normal clothes!"

Odd, Jérémié and Aelita exchanged a desperate look. Ulrich was too far into denial, too far in that he wouldn't accept the cold truth known as reality. None of them had the heart to break it to him.

Odd was especially torn into two. The fact that Ulrich had mentioned that he had helped him pick an outfit for his 'date' with Yumi ripped his heart out. Ulrich must have been in a fantastical world of his own during the coma, where anything was possible. Now one of them had to be the one to burst his bubble, to inform him that there were no more chances.

Odd had a feeling it was going to have to be him.

"Ulrich."

"What other crazy theory do you have now?"

"If she were alive, why would we want to hide her?"

Odd's words took time to sink in. They were like jackhammer, destroying the wall of denial he had built around his heart slowly until it cracked apart with a great heave.

Ulrich's mind was in a freefall, unable to grasp the impossibility. How is possible, when it had felt so real, so right being with her when in actual fact she had been lying in a coffin and him himself not much better?

"No-o..." His shoulders shook as his voice got thicker. "She died for me..."

"It wasn't supposed to be like this!" He shrieked, the tears falling fast and heavy. "I never asked for this! What gave her the-the right to throw her life away?! She's-she's so stupid!"

His mind was breaking. It was torturous, not having any recollection of the moment and going from ecstatic to depressed in a matter of fifteen minutes.

He could just imagine her shriek, as her vain attempts to keep them both alive failed. He could hear the thud of her body as it crumpled, and he could see the small smile left on her face as she looked at the last Krabe disintegrating into oblivion.

He could hear her small sigh as she took her final breath, content of her last deed. No person should be able to imagine this. Not even the world's biggest terrorist. Definitely not a fourteen year old school kid.

"I would've rather died in her place! I would rather be the one dead! She should be here! She! Not I!" He was an exploding ball of fury, unable to control the emotions that poured out of him. He had been so happy, so happy in what he now know was a hallucination. He longed for its peace, the quiet and tranquil world. He didn't care it wasn't real.

He wished he never woke up.

It was as if Odd had read his mind. "You can't give up, don't make her sacrifice in vain," he sniffed, and then continued, his voice hoarse, "we need you to fight against XANA, now more than ever-"

"What's the point," he said blankly. "It's all over."

He could barely speak for the tears flowing down his cheeks. "And I thought there was such a thing as perfection," he stuttered.

Things can be too good to be true.


End file.
